Dan McConnell
SVP, Product Management, Digital Infrastructure, Hitachi Vantara
December 05, 2023
In the digital age, data is the lifeblood of modern business, fueling innovation and driving growth. However, as data continues to proliferate at the speed of artificial intelligence, organizations are facing critical challenges in managing and harnessing its potential. Decision-makers across the globe are increasingly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data they manage, with 61% of enterprise leaders surveyed in Hitachi Vantara’s Modern Data Infrastructure Dynamics Report already expressing this concern. Additionally, 75% of these leaders are worried that their current data infrastructure won’t be able to scale to meet their organizations’ data needs over the next two years.
L-R: Monica Kumar, Hitachi Vantara; Mauro Guzelotto, T-Systems; Sheila Rohra, Hitachi Vantara; Dan McConnell, Hitachi Vantara.
To address these pressing issues, we recently unveiled our Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform One — a groundbreaking hybrid cloud data platform strategy. This forthcoming platform is designed to simplify the complex landscape of data storage, enabling organizations to consume and manage structured and unstructured data across a distributed hybrid environment across on premises and public cloud environments seamlessly.
I recently joined several Hitachi Vantara thought leaders and strategic partners to shed light on the strategies and solutions that promise to revolutionize the data infrastructure landscape. In a vibrant webinar called, Architecting Future Innovation With Data, we explained, among other things, exactly how our Virtual Storage Platform One will help transform the deluge of data from challenge to a catalyst for productivity.
These are several of the key takeaways from the discussion:
To thrive in the new digital data economy, organizations must build a robust enterprise intelligence architecture grounded in four essential strategic pillars:
Information synthesis: Information synthesis involves bringing together and synthesizing vast volumes of data from various sources within your organization and from sources external to your organization and converting that data into knowledge. How well you do this maps to how effectively you can drive desired business outcomes.
Decision availability: Timely access to data-driven insights enables informed decision-making. Don’t reserve data insights solely for executives, make them available to managers and anyone else who needs insights to make day-to-day business decisions.
Collective learning: It’s not good enough just to analyze your data. You have to be able to learn from it. That way, you can improve your organization’s metrics and behavior, share your knowledge, and avoid repeating the same mistakes and wasting the resources in which your organization has invested.
Data-driven culture: Creating a data-driven culture ensures data is at the heart of every decision and action. To build a data-driven culture, ensure that everyone in your organization, from top to bottom, has the tools and skills to make data-driven decisions.
These four pillars form the foundation of an intelligent data strategy that can help enterprises navigate the complexities of today’s data landscape.
The webinar touched on the monumental challenges posed by disruptive technologies like generative AI, which are exponentially increasing the volume and complexity of data. In the face of this data deluge, Virtual Storage Platform One provides easy access to insights, fueling innovation, and ensuring organizations can navigate this ever-expanding landscape.
As data continues to grow in volume and importance, Virtual Storage Platform One will be crucial in streamlining and simplifying data management and unlocking its full potential. The platform empowers customers to seamlessly operate and optimize their applications, whether they are hosted on-premises, in the cloud, or at the edge. This robust resource goes beyond conventional data management; its primary goal is to assist customers in maximizing the potential of their data. By leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, it establishes an intelligent data fabric capable of accommodating diverse data types within any environment.
Offering a unified data plane that efficiently manages storage across diverse environments, Virtual Storage Platform One stands out by enabling organizations to focus on their core objectives. Endorsed by both customers and partners, it empowers them to develop innovative hybrid multicloud solutions, while simplifying administration and reducing overhead.
Virtual Storage Platform One “is really a gamechanger for us and our customers as well because it provides a really solid foundation that we can build on to develop hybrid multicloud solutions,” said Mauro Guzelotto, vice president of cloud services at T-Systems North America, a 15-year Hitachi Vantara partner and an end-to-end IT services provider that delivers solutions to companies in such sectors as energy, healthcare and manufacturing. “Our customers are then empowered to utilize data on different cloud environments. They can choose where data resides, and they can optimize resource utilization.”
Guzelotto noted Virtual Storage Platform One enables simplified administration and reduced overhead. He added: “Hitachi’s reputation for trustworthiness and reliability, combined with the new possibilities that Virtual Storage Platform One brings makes us solidify our commitment to this partnership, and we’re excited to bring new, innovative solutions to our joint customers.”
Beyond its technological innovation, Virtual Storage Platform One serves as a strategic blueprint for business growth, removing barriers to innovation, reducing complexity and costs, and ushering in a new era of efficiency and agility in data management and IT infrastructure.
Virtual Storage Platform One positively disrupts the status quo, enabling modern applications to be built on a data foundation that is flexible, intelligent, resilient, sustainable and trusted. Now organizations can turn data from clutter to clarity, navigate the complexities of the digital data economy with confidence, make data-driven decisions and move their businesses forward.
As head of product management for infrastructure, Dan's passionate about analyzing trends and emerging technologies to meet the needs of global customers. Prior to Hitachi Vantara, he spent 20 years at Dell where he was part of the team responsible for their merger with EMC.
